Rolls-Royce Releases First Images of Project Cullinan SUV in Its Real Body

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Rolls-Royce certainly is drawing out the launch of its Project Cullinan SUV. The idea of a high-riding Roller has been tossed around for some time, with Rolls-Royce decrying the notion for years before finally, in early 2015, confirming its intention to build an SUV. Then an image of a funky, bewinged, Phantom-based mule (pictured below) was released to prove development was underway. Now, Rolls-Royce has released the best look yet at Project Cullinan, in the form of two images that show the vehicle in a proper SUV body. To be fair, unlike many hyped and long-awaited projects (cough*Dr. Dre*cough*Detox), Rolls actually is showing signs of progress toward a finished product.

Rolls refers to Project Cullinan as an “all-terrain, high-sided vehicle,” and it will be the first vehicle to feature the lightweight all-aluminum architecture that will underpin all of the brand’s future products. The first spoiler-clad prototype was used to test the new suspension’s manners on a variety of road surfaces—”suspension throw” and “high-bodied stability” were specifically mentioned as metrics. But engineers can only do so much for a platform without the real body and shape. To that end, this new prototype is beginning testing and will head to the Arctic Circle at the end of this month to be subjected to extreme cold-weather trials. It will then be off to the Middle East to get a taste of the weather at the opposite end of the spectrum.

Based on these two photos of the camo’d vehicle, the vehicle looks to be higher, bigger, and boxier than our initial rendering, and there can be no doubt there’s more of R-R’s trademark grille hiding behind the disguise. It seems as if the SUV will carry forward more of the Phantom’s look versus that of the slightly curvier Ghost, which could mean the next-generation Phantom—due soon after the VII recently ended its legendary run—might look similar to the previous Phantom. The Cullinan SUV is expected to offer both V-12 and hybrid powertrain options, and it is expected to slide into the garages of the global elite in late 2018. (After many more teasers, of course.)